


True Love's Kiss

by likethenight



Series: Two of a Kind ficlets [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Children, Children's Stories, Cute Kids, Fluff, Gen, M/M, True Love's Kiss, fairytales - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likethenight/pseuds/likethenight
Summary: Natalie is trying to explain Sleeping Beauty to Jack. Jack doesn't get it, and Hal steps in to try and help (and possibly demonstrate).Ficlet written for Writers' Month 2020, day 24, prompt "true love's kiss"
Relationships: Hal Peacock (Original Character)/Jack Outlaw | Jack McQueen (Original Character), Jack Outlaw | Jack McQueen (Original Character) & Natalie Peacock (Original Character), Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Two of a Kind ficlets [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884031
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	True Love's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Hal and Jack are the main characters from a novel I've been writing for a very long time entitled Two of a Kind. They are both ex-street-kid musicians who spend the course of the novel very slowly realising that they are actually everything in the world to each other (they are the archetypal slow-burn idiots in love). Hal has a daughter, Natalie, who lives with her mother Anita. Jack is - well. Jack is hard to explain but he is very damaged, very unsocialised, somewhat feral, and also incredibly grumpy; meanwhile Hal is much calmer, but still rather damaged. They each play guitar in bands, Hal in one and Jack in another. By the point that this ficlet takes place, they have been living together in an established relationship for some time, and Hal has been helping Jack adjust to dealing with people, something at which Jack has never had much experience, for various reasons. Meanwhile, Natalie has taken it upon himself to educate Jack about all the things he never got to do when he was a child himself; he quite often struggles to understand exactly what it is she's trying to explain.

I hear what sounds like a fairly intense discussion coming from the living room, and saunter in from my workroom to find Jack and Natalie sitting on the sofa, one of Natalie’s story books open in front of them. 

“But that’s the only way the spell can be broken, papa!” says Natalie, in the tone of voice she uses on Jack when he’s being particularly obtuse. 

“Well, it sounds like bull- uh…bollo- … _rubbish_ to me,” says Jack stubbornly, and I cover my mouth so he doesn’t hear me chuckling; he’s an inveterate swearer and to his credit he does always try to censor himself for Natalie, but he doesn’t always manage to do it before part of the word he wants to say has made its way out of his mouth, and he doesn’t always manage to come up with an acceptable substitute straight away.

“Language, papa!” says Natalie, sounding impossibly grown-up for all that she’s only eight. “It isn’t rubbish, it’s how it _works_. That’s what the wicked witch said, and so that’s how it has to be. Because the wicked witch thought that it would be impossible, because if she’s asleep, how is anyone going to fall in love with her?”

“Sounds supremely dodgy to me,” says Jack, and I wander over to rescue him; I know he’s got his limits as to how much of Natalie’s enthusiasm he can handle in one go.

“What’s going on?” I ask them, and Natalie sighs long-sufferingly.

“Daddy, I’m trying to tell papa about Sleeping Beauty,” she says, “but he doesn’t want to understand.”

I stifle a smile. “I see. What seems to be the problem?”

Jack rolls his eyes. “Well, your kid seems to think that the only way this girl who’s been asleep for a hundred years - and who sleeps for a hundred years anyway?”

“She’s under a _spell_ , papa, from the wicked witch, otherwise she wouldn’t have done,” Natalie interrupts, and I grin, it might not sound like it but they adore each other, even if Jack never calls her anything other than ‘kid’. 

“All right, all fu- all _right_ , she’s under a spell and she’s been asleep for a hundred years, and the only way she can wake up is if some guy she’s never met before falls in love with her and kisses her.” He shakes his head. “Which sounds _seriously_ dodgy.”

“It’s best not to think about it too hard,” I tell him, but Natalie is bouncing up and down, clearly bursting to say something. “What is it, baby girl?”

“It’s _true love’s kiss_ ,” she says. “It’s _important_. It has to be _true_ love or it won’t work!”

Jack scoffs, and Natalie starts looking like she really will burst with frustration, and I decide it’s time I stepped in. Quickest way to shut Jack up is to kiss him, so that’s what I do, leaning down to press my mouth to his, just quickly and nothing too explicit given that my little girl is watching - but it works, and as I pull away I see that I’ve taken all the wind out of his sails and he’s struggling to think of an answer.

“You see, papa?” says Natalie triumphantly, “ _true love’s kiss_ ,” and I can’t help the surprised laugh that escapes me at that. She always was perceptive, my little girl.

**Author's Note:**

> For multiple reasons relating to his upbringing, or lack thereof, Jack is unfamiliar with most traditions; in the novel, Natalie has been taking great joy in introducing him to things like animated movies, birthdays, and Christmas traditions, and here she is teaching him a lesson about fairy tales. She thinks it's funny that he doesn't know about these things, but also sad, and he's actually quite enjoying playing along with her.


End file.
